Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2017

It was an evening of glitz glamour, but most of all celebration, at the 18th annual Asian Women of Achievement Awards at the London Hilton, Park Lane, last night.

The awards, founded by Pinky Lilani CBE DL in 1999, celebrate multicultural Britain and the contribution of diverse cultures and talents to UK society.

The crème de la crème of British Asian female talent was celebrated throughout the course of the evening, with 12 winners honoured for their services in categories such as business, entrepreneurship, arts, science, sport and public service.

Being the business-mad obsessives that we are, we were particularly interested in the Entrepreneur Award, the winner of which was Sunaina Sinha. Sunaina is the managing partner of Cebile Capital and the only female founder of a private equity advisory business in Europe.

She has paved the way for women in the private equity industry, where currently less than 7% of senior positions are held by women. And, under her leadership, Cebile Capital has tripled in size over the last two years. We look forward in watching her career progress over the coming years.

Jaspreet Sangha, winner of the Arts & Culture award

There were a couple of standout moments from the night. Firstly, spoken word artist Jaspreet Sangha, winner of the Arts & Culture award, gave an impromptu and show-stopping recital of her feminist poem “I am” during her acceptance speech, which had the whole room in rapture.

Fatima Zaman recipient of the Chairperson’s Award

Secondly, the recipient of the Chairperson’s Award, Fatima Zaman, who works with the Kofi Annan Foundation and the Home Office, had the room in tears with a heartfelt speech on the dangers she faces every day in her quest to empower young women to prevent and counter extremism in their own communities.